Legal Research

Incrimination by TwitPic

By Omar Ha-Redeye

I usually don’t pay attention to when Paris Hilton gets arrested.

Last Friday she was charged with a felony drug possession for 0.8 grams of cocaine when pulled over while her boyfried Cy Waits was driving. The Las Vegas Law Review Journal claims that Waits’ attorney Richard Schonfeld is challenging the legality of the stop.

Of course she claimed the drugs wasn’t hers, nor was the purse in which it was found, even though she acknowledged ownership of her asthma medication, credit cards and $1,300 in cash also found inside the purse. According to Hilton, she was carrying the bag for a friend. Photos of the arrest and  the purse can be seen on TMZ.

Enter the beauty of social media.

Chris Le at Salon points out that Hilton had posted a picture of a remarkably similar purse on TwitPic on July 15, 2010, over a month before the arrest.

The post states,

Love My New Chanel Purse I got Today. :)

Le notes that either way it probably won’t make a difference for a possession charge, but it does help illustrate on a Friday night how a night on the town can have later legal repercussions.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on September 03, 2010 (boomark / email).